An August 23 article from the Associated Press, Officials: Egypt closes Gaza border amid tensions with Hamas, details how the Rafah crossing between the Sinai Peninsula and the coastal enclave was closed following violent Palestinian rioting on Saturday night.
The piece describes developments two days later:
Activists in the Gaza Strip on Monday launched incendiary balloons into southern Israel, setting off at least three fires across the border, Israel’s national fire service said….
The statement followed a a violent Hamas-organized protest along the Israeli border Saturday in which a Palestinian activist shot an Israeli sniper in the head at point-blank range. The soldier remained in critical condition Monday.”
HonestReporting tweeted about this article, calling out AP on its egregious use of the word “activists” to describe individuals who fired explosives at Israel, as well as someone who, armed with a deadly weapon, attempted to murder an Israeli soldier.
The tweet went viral, with numerous international news organizations citing it in articles that highlighted AP’s linguistic distortion of the reality of attacks against Israel.
“Activists”@AssociatedPress. pic.twitter.com/Jl6QYU0hR7
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) August 24, 2021
We drew attention to AP’s use of the word “activist” because it suggests a reformer who champions specific causes, or campaigns to bring about social change. An activist is not a gun-toting rioter who seeks to cause bloodshed. Activists are also not those who fire crude weapons in the direction of Israeli towns and cities with the goal of killing innocent people and causing maximum property and ecological damage.
HonestReporting’s tweet as of Wednesday had garnered some 400,000 impressions and was engaged with thousands of times by social media users. It was reposted by prominent journalists, commentators and a diplomat.
Crucially, this is evidence that holding media organizations to account – challenging their misleading narratives about Israel – can have a tangible impact.
The @AP is more upset about Tweets debunking their hit piece on @GovRonDeSantis than they are about terrorists … I mean “activists.” https://t.co/u9xwnMr1YB
— Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw) August 24, 2021
They’re called terrorists, @AP. https://t.co/8Dv7sbm1mE
— Erielle Davidson (@politicalelle) August 24, 2021
They’re community organizers. For the arsonist community. https://t.co/MvZ6Erri9D
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) August 24, 2021
Unfortunately, AP’s use of dangerously misleading language was not the only problematic element of the article, which continues:
Hamas has grown increasingly angry in recent weeks after Israel tightened the blockade in the wake of the May war. Israel has demanded the return of the remains of two dead soldiers, as well as two Israeli civilians believed to be alive and being held by Hamas, as a condition for the cease-fire. In the meantime, it has held up the deliveries of much-needed reconstruction materials.”
This passage does two things: It minimizes the role Hamas has played in creating the humanitarian situation in Gaza and seemingly attempts to absolve the US-designated terrorist group of responsibility for the prolongation of such conditions.
First, Hamas has consistently diverted funds earmarked for ordinary Gazans to its own terrorist activities, such as building more rockets and a huge network of subterranean attack tunnels.
Second, if Hamas was even slightly concerned about the civilians it rules over, it would stop using as bargaining chips the Israeli hostages being held in contravention of international law.
Or, it could use the money stashed away in an alleged hidden portfolio, which the World Bank estimates could pay for all of Gaza’s reconstruction as well as the economic losses incurred during May’s Hamas-initiated conflict with Israel.
The bottom line is AP’s use of language matters: it serves to obfuscate the reality of Hamas’ war on the Jewish state and recasts its terrorists as righteous actors.
To register discontent with the Associated Press for allowing its pages to be used to spread distortions about Israel please contact: https://www.ap.org/contact-us/contact-newsroom
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